


How Long Has it Been

by littlesparkleshark



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Married Aliens in Love, Married Couple, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Stormcage Containment Facility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29681544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesparkleshark/pseuds/littlesparkleshark
Summary: River breaks her wife out of Stormcage and they share a moment on the TARDIS.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	How Long Has it Been

River watched as her wife’s three companions wondered off up the stairs from the console room. Elated at having the Doctor back but so entirely oblivious to the palpable exhaustion and despondency River could feel radiating off the Doctor in waves. 

“How long has it been.” River leveled, the second the three humans were out of earshot.

The Doctor shrugged, the rough material of the prison-issue jumpsuit she was still wearing making a loud rustling with the motion as she refused to meet River’s gaze.

"Like Yaz said, a few months." The Doctor murdered quietly, one of her index fingers tracing over a leaver. Not even bothering to look properly busy as she spun something this way, then back the other way.

On any other occasion, River would have rolled her eyes at the Doctor’s childish hesitation. 800 years of marriage and she still believed they could lie to each other. Her wife’s stupidity would have been endearing if it wasn’t annoyingly complacent.

However, she was shaken. River had known that before she’d even gotten to the cell, could feel her unrest in the air like static electricity on her skin. Trying desperately to hold all her pieces together and smile at her companions, who had so readily come to her aid.

Grappling to be larger than life and so utterly indestructible; to be _The Doctor_ , whatever version of that they had decided to be this century. 

River hummed, unimpressed with the blatant lie she was being fed. Their companions may have accepted this cheery disposition without question, but River could see the weight behind it. The forcefully bright smile and the hasty tone that was just a bit too sharp to be genuine.

"I saw the markings." River hedged, her mind thinking over the little black tick marks that had covered the Doctor’s cell walls.

The Doctor moved to the left a bit, using the crystalized beam at the center of the console to obscure her reaction. Her brow furrowed as she stared down at some bit of wiring still unwilling to truly look at her.

"Groups of 7, in rows of 12 I think?” River added also stepping left so she could continue to stare at her wife, as her wife, stared morosely into the console. "-and I counted about 300 rows from where I was standing when I picked the lock on your cell. But assuming the other wall was full"

"Seconds grouped into minuets” The Doctor cut in a bit too forcefully. Shrugging too wildly for it to be as nonchalant as she wanted it to appear. 

If it were true, she’d have that _‘I’m so clever_ ’ smug smile on her face. The little half turned up smirk and the swaggering walk that they couldn’t seem to lose no matter the face they took.

However, at this exact moment, the Doctor’s face was drawn into a tight scowl. The orange glow of the console room's latest decor making deep showdowns on her features as she stared into River's eyes. Willing her to suspend disbelief.

To ignore anything beyond what the Doctor was choosing to show her at that moment. A magician of emotional slide of hand.

She could just slap her.

"Or nearly," she paused, solely for dramatic effect, pretending to count even though the number was already burned in her brain. “76 years, 2 months and 8 weeks.”

The Doctor's eyes widened a bit.

To be fair that was a very exact number for only having glanced about the cell in the few seconds it took her to override Stormcage's new high-security locks, overpower eight guards, and run like hell.

River raised an eyebrow; the reminder clear in her impassive gaze, 800 years of marriage. The Doctor was a book she had long since memorized and could recite from memory in her sleep. Lies and secrets were for younger versions of themselves still too caught up in suppressing vulnerabilities, hiding damage.

"Catch."

The Doctor’s head shot up at the command, and River arched a soft underhanded toss of her wife’s latest sonic screwdriver. Watching as she caught it blindly, and without recognition before realization donned. 

The Doctor’s eyes widened hopefully, with the light and excitement of a child on Christmas morning.

River shrugged casually, as she leaned her hip on the console. "Nicked from the archives on my way to your cell.”

The amount of awe and appreciation on the Doctor’s face made her stomach flip. She adored that face; it was quite possibly the only time River truly felt like more than a blip in the life of this immortal idiot. It kind of made her feel like an immortal idiot too.

If the Doctor could still be impressed with her after 800 years; with no secrets left to entice, and all her mysteries unraveled and laid bare. She must be something truly incredible in this very large, very populated universe to inspire such a look of awestruck adoration.

It almost made her forget she was upset about being lied to.

Almost.

"Figured you'd want that back." River sighed, reveling in the reverence of her wife’s pleased joy for a bit longer before adding, “Not before I scanned it though.”

And just like that, the Doctor’s face fell. Watching with weary dread as River tugged her own sonic screwdriver from the waist pocket of her coat. Some entirely different part of River reveled in the trapped expression taking over her wife’s face.

Good. She didn't like to be placated.

" 76 years.” She repeated, “that’s a very long while.”

The Doctor deflated with a rush of air, her head hanging between her shoulders as her hands pressed flatly on the rails of the console.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor murmured a fond sort of nostalgia tinging her words as she added, “I’d nearly forgotten.” 

She let her words trail off after that but the ‘ _what it’s like to have you here’_ is understood.

There's a silence, River lost in her own ideas of what that means for her after their time on Darillium is up. She doubts she'll go peacefully. She's never been a very peaceful soul.

The Doctor straightened abruptly, her eyes on River with a keen sense of knowing.

"River, where are we for you?"

Oh.

Right.

To be fair she hadn't had much of a choice. Three humans had shown up at her doorstep in a stolen TARDIS, talking over each other about ‘the Doctor’ and ‘in trouble’ and ‘Stormecage’. She’d been out the door before they’d finished explaining.

Ushering all three of the Doctor’s human companions back into their stolen time machine with a finger to her lips and a _‘hush, don’t wake dad.’_

Because if Eyebrows were to find out she'd gone off-world she'd never hear the end of it.

She didn't say the word 'Darillium’ but the Doctor seemed to have guessed. Her arms flailing a bit before landing on her hips with a scowl, her little red jumpsuit, and sunshiny face not at all having the desired effect.

She’d been on Darillium with Eyebrows for a little over a decade, and his stern face had never really made her do more than crack a smile. 

But this; small angry blonde thing, had River grinning wildly.

She loved when they tried to be stern with her. In all honesty, it was adorable they still even tried.

"River."

She was more than positive that tone was supposed to fill her with some sort of repentance she couldn’t seem to muster. It was worth it, just to get to see this face, just to save her. 

"We made _vows_ on that planet, River.”

She rolled her eyes "Well sweetie, if you didn’t want me to leave. You shouldn’t have gotten yourself in so much trouble.” 

_Her scowl._

She looked like a puppy that had never growled before.

Out of practice, River decided with a playful grin. It was obvious that her wife hadn’t handled her in quite a long time. 

She could rectify that.

Eyebrows wouldn't notice, she could add it to her weekly shopping list. Go out for milk, swan off with her wife, actually get milk, go home to her husband a few minutes later. 

No harm done.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed, and River wasn’t naive enough to believe she hadn’t already guessed what River was planning.

"No." The Doctor scolded.

That one actually sounded rightfully stern and River delighted in it. Watching as her wife pulled a lever and threw the TARDIS into action. "We're going to put you back, and you are to stay put- like you promised. Like we _both_ promised each other we would and I-"

She trailed off suddenly, the abrupt change in tone catching River’s complete attention. The Doctor considered her for a moment, her expression growing far too fond as she pushed the lever back to its original position with a sigh.

The TARDIS humming happily to a stop in the middle of the vortex.

There was a long stretch of silence and River watched the wheels turn relentlessly in her wife's head. That smug expression appearing before the Doctor had even spoken.

"I _AM_ taking you back to him.” She sighed, “and when I do you are going to promise me, and him, and any other version of me, that you will stay by my side as I stayed by yours but-“

The Doctor held up a finger, watching River for a moment, “If I happen to take you there very, _very_ slowly....”

River smiled brightly and the Doctor grinned back, the two of them far too lost in each other and this moment to do anything else. She would go home to them, always. But this stolen time was worth at least one more secret.

One last spoiler.

**Author's Note:**

> This was sitting in the notes app of my phone and I thought it was kinda sweet.


End file.
